Over the last two or three decades, growing numbers of parents in the industrialized world are choosing not to have their
children vaccinated. In trying to explain why this is occurring, public health commentators refer to the activities of an
anti-vaccination ‘movement’. In the light of three decades of research on (new) social movements, what sense does it make
to attribute decline in vaccination rates to the actions of an influential anti-vaccination movement? Two sorts of empirical
data, drawn largely from UK and the Netherlands, are reviewed. These relate to the claims, actions and discourse of anti-vaccination
groups on the one hand, and to the way parents of young children think about vaccines and vaccination on the other. How much
theoretical sense it makes to view anti-vaccination groups as (new) social movement organizations (as distinct from pressure
groups or self-help organizations) is as yet unclear. In any event there is no simple and unambiguous demarcation criterion.
From a public health perspective, however, to focus attention on organized opponents of vaccination is appealing because it
unites health professionals behind a banner of reason. At the same time it diverts attention from a potentially disruptive
critique of vaccination practices; the critique in fact articulated by many parents. In the light of current theoretical discussion
of ‘scientific citizenship’ this paper argues that identifying anti-vaccination groups with other social movements may ultimately
have the opposite effect to that intended.

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